Courtney B. Vance

He was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance at the 45th Tony Awards.

Courtney Bernard Vance (born March 12, 1960) is an American actor.

He started his career on stage before moving to film and television.

Vance has received various accolades, including a Tony Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards, as well as nominations for a Grammy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award.

During this time he had small roles in the CBS television film First Affair (1983), and the ABC drama Thirtysomething (1989), and Law & Order (1990).

Vance played Thami Mbikwarna in the Athol Fugard play ''My Children!

Having trained at the Yale School of Drama, he soon made his Broadway debut the original production of August Wilson's Fences (1985), earning his first Tony Award nomination.

In 1985, Vance started his acting career on the stage as Cory in the Yale Repertory Theatre production of August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning and Tony Award for Best Play-winning play Fences.

He is known for his roles in films such as Hamburger Hill (1987), The Hunt for Red October (1990), The Tuskegee Airmen (1995), The Preacher's Wife (1996), Cookie's Fortune (1999), and Isle of Dogs (2018).

From 1987 to 1988, Vance continued the role on Broadway opposite James Earl Jones where he won a Clarence Derwent Award and the Theatre World Award for his performance.

He was also nominated for his first Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his role.

Vance's film debut was in 1987 American war film, Hamburger Hill about the 1969 assault during the Vietnam War.

My Africa!'' at the New York Theatre Workshop from 1989 to 1990.

He continued acting in theatre in John Guare's Six Degrees of Separation (1990) and Nora Ephron's Lucky Guy (2013), the later of which earned him a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play.

Vance played Paul, replacing James McDaniel who originated the role in the 1990 Off-Broadway production.

Vance acted alongside John Cunningham and Stockard Channing.

Throughout the 1990s, Vance continued acting in a variety of feature films such as The Hunt for Red October (1990), and The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993).

During the 1990s, Vance guest-starred in numerous television shows including Law & Order, Picket Fences, and Thirtysomething.

In 1991, Vance returned to Broadway playing Paul in John Guare's Six Degrees of Separation.

In 1995, Vance played Black Panther Bobby Seale in the Melvin and Mario Van Peebles docudrama Panther.

That same year, he also appeared in The Last Supper and Dangerous Minds.

He also worked with acclaimed directors such as Robert Altman in Cookie's Fortune, Penny Marshall in The Preacher's Wife, and Clint Eastwood in Space Cowboys.

He has been married to actress Angela Bassett since 1997.

He is on the Board of Directors of The Actors Center in New York City, and is an active supporter of Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

He also starred in made-for-television films such as William Friedkin's 12 Angry Men (1997), in which he played the Foreman and acted alongside Ossie Davis, George C. Scott, Jack Lemmon, Hume Cronyn, and James Gandolfini.

In 1998 he acted in the Showtime television film Blind Faith he played John Williams.

Vance earned critical acclaim with Janet Maslin of The New York Times describing his performance as "first rate".

He went on to receive a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead.

In 1999, Vance also starred in and co-produced the romantic comedy Love and Action in Chicago.

From 2001 to 2006 he portrayed Assistant District Attorney Ron Carver in the NBC series Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

From 2001 to 2006, Vance starred in Law & Order: Criminal Intent, in which he played A.D.A. Ron Carver.

He was nominated for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series for his performance.

In 2008 and 2009, he guest-starred in the final season of ER alongside his wife Angela Bassett.

He earned Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie portraying Johnnie Cochran in the FX limited series The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story (2016), and for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for playing George Freeman in the HBO series Lovecraft Country (2020).

He also played Sir Lord Keenan Kester Cofield in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2017) and C. L. Franklin in Genius: Aretha (2020).

In 2019, he was appointed president of the Screen Actors Guild Foundation.

Vance was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Leslie Anita (Daniels), a librarian, and Conroy Vance, a grocery store manager and benefits administrator.

He attended Detroit Country Day School and later graduated from Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

While at Harvard, he was already working as an actor at the Boston Shakespeare Company.

He subsequently earned a Master of Fine Arts degree at Yale School of Drama, where he met fellow student and future wife Angela Bassett.